My “Why”
I am a student of BaGua Kung Fu. When you take on a lifelong commitment like this, you need to always be in touch with your “Why:” the reason you should keep putting yourself through the demanding training; the arduous tests; the injuries — and all the self-doubts and insecurities that go along with these challenges. If you are not aware of what motivates you, you will quit as soon as the going gets tough.
If you ask different martial arts practitioners for their “why,” you will probably get a variety of answers: Self-defense. Personal growth. Enjoyment. Enlightenment. I relate to all of these, as do most artists. But for me, they all come under the heading of mental toughness training. Any time you find a “chink in your mental armor,” in terms of a thought, feeling, or mindset that holds you back, you work on it, to make yourself stronger.
I have discovered that if you can master your most primal fears – getting hit, hurt, and even dying – then you can master any fear. So first and foremost, my reason for standing up to the Statist dictator-wannabes, is to show them that they will never make me live in fear.
I grew up in a rough neighborhood of New York City. Had a lot of fights with a lot of tough guys, and held my own very well. I was even recruited for a gang.
But I hate bullies. I hate people who pick on weaker people. I especially hate people who are ordinarily not a bully, but who pile on when somebody is down. I stood up many times for kids getting ganged up on.
It drove me crazy when Covid hit, and everyone turned into a health enforcer. People who were usually timid as a mouse, all of a sudden tried to force people into compliance with onerous mandates.
I will not let people with a mob mindset gang up on me, and others who are intimidated.
As a Jew, I am very sensitive to tyranny. The Jewish nation was created as an antidote to an oppressive society. God liberated us from slavery in Egypt, and gave us the Torah with instructions on how to preserve freedom. Our duty is to teach this to other nations.
My family has experienced the horror of tyranny first hand. My uncle’s family were among the last Jews living in their town in Germany when the Nazis came to power. They were reluctant to leave until tragedy almost struck: Nazi youths attacked my uncle – he was around 11 years old – and hung him from a tree to die.
By the Grace of God a famer came by in his wagon just then, drove the thugs off, and cut my uncle down. His mother had them on the next available plane to the US..
When they arrived, immigration officials questioned them about why they should be allowed to live in America (in those days, our borders were protected.) My uncle basically said: “I have just escaped with my life from Communists. If you let me in this country, I will help you defeat them.”
They did, and he did. He graduated high school, and then joined the Navy. He was serving in the Pacific Basin when we dropped the bombs to defeat Japanese imperialism.
America is the last bastion of freedom in the world today. Judeo – Christian values are the root of those freedoms. I think it is the duty of every Jew and Christian in our country to stand up for those freedoms.
Remember: Hitler didn’t want to just eliminate Jews and Christians. He wanted to eradicate our religious heritage.
911 was my wake-up call: it could happen here. War could come to our shores. I became involved in community safety and security.
Fortunately, my town has always promoted citizen participation. They had a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT,) and I underwent training to support the Office of Emergency Management.
The Police Department ran a Citizens Police Academy. I graduated that, and went on to start a Neighborhood Watch with other graduates.
I worked closely with both the OEM and PD on helping local houses of worship with emergency preparedness.
When the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre took place, I started a private Facebook group to discuss community safety and security. I had two goals:
- To keep people mindful of all threats, not just mass shooters. As congregations hardened their physical defenses, I wanted to make sure every-day issues like environmental health and street violence were not forgotten;
- To identify all the factors that could make communities unsafe. Shootings, and other violent crimes, do not take place in a vacuum; there is a cultural / legal / political environment that can either encourage or discourage health and safety.
The year 2020 showed how true this all was. Government officials locking down entire states to “defeat Covid” – and in the process causing more illness and suffering than the virus?! Government officials allowing domestic terrorists to attack people and property with “peaceful protests”?! Government officials conspiring in a “color revolution” to unseat an elected President, and demonize his supporters?!
It became clear to me that the NUMBER ONE threat to community safety and security, is a government that will turn against its own citizens.
I simply will not live in a police state.
An additional point:
Entrepreneurship is one of the best ways to express your freedom. I am a third-generation small business owner. My father’s family came to America from Russia, and started a business as soon as they could. It was a way for them to remain independent – especially from the government. They knew that what the government gives, the government can also take away.
My father also started a business – his own life insurance brokerage. I am now carrying that torch, and have been running my own independent brokerage for decades. God bless America, land of free enterprise. But I see the signs of Socialist decay lurking around the corner. The notion of the “essential business” was pushed duing the Covid lockdowns. Essential business? Hey – every income is essential, to every family.
Creating… innovating… building a better mousetrap… these are American economic ideals. They have helped Americans generate fantastic wealth, and become the most charitable people on the planet. But the Global Elites are trying to sink their fangs into this wealth – and to exploit we who create it.
I am 100% committed to stopping their “great reset” in its tracks.